~ ICPNC

A huge thank you to all who supported the development and roll out of the Global Affairs Canada ICPNC collaborative Universal Children’s Day Event on November 24th! Congratulations to all for a very successful event that created space for quality meaningful participation and engagement of young people, exemplary panel presentations, and valuable discussion with the Child Protection Unit, Global Affairs Canada.

ICPNC was fortunate to have a group of over 40 children and youth grades 6 to 12 who were very interested in children’s rights, passionate in the initiatives they are leading in their own schools, and keen to ask questions during their private event and the panel. During the session, the young people learned about their rights through a participatory play-based activity, explored strengths and barriers to their rights, and delved into actions they can take as young people and recommendations they have for adults at the school, community, national and global level.

During the Panel, Karina Gould MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development highlighted that “children and youth are powerful agents of social change”, while child rights advocate and former senator, Landon Pearson shared her proudest moments of starting a movement of engaging child delegates in the World Fit for children summit in UN, David Morley, President and CEO, UNICEF Canada honed in on importance of child protection, and Divina Usabase, youth ambassador and advocate voiced a need for greater emphasis on Mental Health education and awareness.

The children and youth asked a plethora of questions on indigenous rights, poverty in Canada, LGBTQ rights, and what Canada was like prior to the UNCRC. A teacher from Hopewell school emailed that “the panel discussion was right at the kids’ level and they felt so respected, mature and important having these esteemed adults actively listening to their concerns and taking their questions seriously.”

Thank you to those who supported preparing questions for the panelists!